By Anish Vishwakoti, ProWrestling.net Staffer, (@AVX_9001)
WWE 205 Live on the WWE Network
Aired live on April 2, 2019 from Baltimore, Maryland at Royal Farms Arena
The show started with General Manager Drake Maverick giving a preview of the WWE Cruiserweight Championship match at WrestleMania 35 between Tony Nese and Buddy Murphy and announcing tonight’s matches… The broadcast team was Vic Joseph, Nigel McGuinness, and Aiden English…
1. Kalisto vs. Oney Lorcan. Before the match, Kalisto hopped on the mic quickly and got the crowd hyped up by declaring, “It’s Lucha time.” The match kicked off with Lorcan catching Kalisto off guard with a running uppercut. Lorcan followed up with a suplex and when his cover only got him a one count chopped Kalisto. The Luchador attempted to roll up Lorcan in return and managed to hit him with an armdrag out of the ring and a subsequent cross body, however Lorcan took control back quickly.
Lorcan tossed Kalisto out of the ring and rattled him around ringside into the barricade. Lorcan continued to wail on Kalisto, using the apron to deal damage on him. Lorcan at one point got caught with a kick by Kalisto on the apron, but responded by sweeping him off his feet and forcing him to hit the apron.
As Lorcan and Kalisto grappled in the ring, we cut backstage to see Buddy Murphy storming around angrily. Lorcan caught Kalisto in a body scissors and squeezed the life out of him. Kalisto hung on and managed to stay in it, but Lorcan countered his attempts to struggle out with a drag down and wrenched in a chin lock.
Kalisto eventually fought his way free and managed to kick Lorcan and follow up with a corkscrew crossbody and a superkick. Lorcan tried to get his bearings and hit Kalisto with a half-and-half suplex, but Kalisto flipped out of it and caught him with a basement rana. Kalisto then positioned Lorcan, but took too much time to set up the Salida Del Sol, allowing Lorcan to reverse and push Kalisto to the apron.
Lorcan attempted the half-and-half suplex onto the apron, but Kalisto turned the tables and hit Lorcan with a Salida Del Sol on the hardest part of the ring. Lorcan fell to the outside however and the time that it took Kalisto to get Lorcan into the ring allowed him to recover and kick out. Kalisto then attempted to push Lorcan up to the top rope and after some struggle, Lorcan tried to hit a super half-and-half-plex.
Kalisto knocked Lorcan off and we entered the ending sequence of the match. Kalisto attempted a 450 splash, but Lorcan got the knees up, rammed Kalisto with a half-and-half suplex and got the pinfall victory…
Oney Lorcan defeated Kalisto by pinfall.
Anish’s Thoughts: This was a very simple and quick matchup. Both competitors kept it fast paced and with Kalisto getting the crowd hyped up before the match, and Lorcan was able to come in there and be an effective antagonist. Nothing amazing and it was pretty simple, but it got the job done and both men looked good, especially Lorcan.
Backstage, Cedric Alexander asked Maverick for a match with Lorcan. The Maverick said that Alexander had lost his last two matches and has been the franchise player in 205 for a while, and should take a little bit of time to reset…
We also saw Tony Nese cutting a promo backstage before being accosted by Buddy Murphy. They brawled in the backstage area before making it to the curtain and the ramp. Eventually, they had to be pulled apart by officials, with Nese being the one to get the last shot in, knocking Murphy to the floor by tossing him into the screen and hitting him with a running knee…
2. Mike Kanellis (w/Maria Kanellis) vs. Akira Tozawa (w/Brian Kendrick). Tozawa and Kanellis started with a lockup which ended in a stalemate as both men attempted leg locks and made it to the ropes. Kanellis got the first real offense in the match by smacking Tozawa with a shoulder block, but Tozawa got right up and retaliated with an octopus stretch.
Kanellis got to the ropes to force him off and attempted to exchange shoulder blocks, which ended up with Tozawa knocking Kanellis out of the ring. Tozawa looked like he would follow up with a suicide dive, but Kanellis caught him with a lariat and took control for a little bit. Kanellis knocked Tozawa in and out of the ring and locked in a rear naked choke.
Tozawa got to the bottom rope to break the hold, but a confident Kanellis rocked Tozawa with a trio of suplexes. Kanellis followed up with a running basement dropkick and another chin lock. He feigned a rope rebound maneuver to coax Tozawa into trying his dropkick, and in response reversed the leaping Tozawa into a powerbomb.
Tozawa was clearly hurt, but Kanellis didn’t look to cover. Instead he picked Tozawa up and tried to inflict more damage, which led to the Japanese superstar building some space and hitting Kanellis with a clothesline and a dropkick. Tozawa then caught the wobbly Kanellis off guard with a spin out Fireman’s carry slam and got Kanellis up to try for a running dropkick.
Kanellis reversed this again however and hit Tozawa with a spinebuster. Tozawa wiggled free and hit Kanellis with an enzuigiri followed up by the octopus stretch. Kanellis was about to go out, but broke the hold by throwing himself over the top rope and entertainingly forcing Tozawa to take the fall as well.
On the outside, Kanellis got to his feet first and placed Tozawa on the barricade and hit a neckbreaker with Tozawa hung from it. Kendrick got too close to Kanellis and for his enthusiasm, Kanellis hit him with a sucker punch before heading into the ring and trying to hit Tozawa with a top rope maneuver.
Tozawa followed him up to the top rope however and hit him with a super Frankensteiner. Tozawa went for the cover but only got a two count. Both men got to their feet and slugged each other with strikes and chops, eventually both falling in fatigue. Both men got to their feet slowly as the crowd chanted “This is Awesome.” Tozawa managed to hit Kanellis with a German suplex as he got up and caught Kanellis with a sunset flip.
Kanellis reversed this into a roll up to try and get the pin, with Maria Kanellis using her hands as leverage. Kendrick got in the way however, allowing Tozawa to reverse this pin attempt and get the pinfall victory…
Akira Tozawa defeated Mike Kanellis by pinfall.
A video package for the Murphy vs. Nese match at WrestleMania closed the show…
Anish’s Thoughts: It was a little strange that the Murphy and Nese brawl from earlier didn’t end the show, as that would have made more sense. The video package seemed a little out of place. The main event was a really fun match. Both men put their all into it and the tease of Kanellis and Kendrick at ringside threatening to get involved worked without being as tacky as it is so many times in WWE. Kanellis takes a step back after taking a few steps forward, so I guess we will see more of Kanellis vs. Kendrick and Tozawa in the near future.
Overall, this was a very simple go-home show, I think WWE might have been better served in doing something like a contract signing or a big brawl to end the show and hype up the WWE Cruiserweight Title match at WrestleMania, but either way it was a pleasant go-home show, and I’m definitely looking forward to the Murphy vs. Nese bout on Sunday.
Check below for the new Pro Wrestling Boom Podcast with Jason Powell and guest PCO, who discusses the ROH and NJPW G1 Supercard event that will be held on Saturday at MSG, taking crazy bumps at age 51, what he still wants to accomplish in pro wrestling, and much more.
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